FARMINGTON — The Western Maine Audubon will sponsor a talk titled “The eastern cougar: wild cats or wild imaginations?” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in Lincoln Auditorium at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The program will be presented by Dr. Mark McCollough, who recently authored a status review of the eastern cougar and will discuss the latest findings. McCollough is an endangered species biologist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Maine Field Office in Orono. He is lead biologist for the Canada lynx, eastern cougar and the Furbish’s lousewort – an endangered plant on the St. John River.

Prior to working for the service, McCollough was leader of nongame and endangered wildlife programs for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

He has degrees in forestry and wildlife from Penn State and received his graduate degrees in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine. He also did the artwork for the Maine chickadee and loon license plates and has illustrated and authored several books. He writes a monthly column for the Northwoods Sporting Journal.